Despite holding the ball for just over 35 minutes Sunday and outgaining their opponent 420-216, the Houston Texans dropped their fourth straight game by the score of 38-13 to the St. Louis Rams. The loss drops Houston to 2-4 standing on the edge of a cliff as far as any hope of salvaging the 2013 season, while the win evens the Rams to 3-3 on the year.

About the only thing that went right for the Texans was that Arian Foster had a great game, rushing for 141 yards and garnering another 57 yards in receptions. The defense only allowed 216 yards on the day, but gave up drives of 80 yards twice during the contest.

Offensively, Houston had a pick 6 for the fifth game in a row, although it was T.J. Yates delivering the early Christmas present to the visitors on a 98-yard return after the interception. Yates was on in relief of the beleaguered Matt Schaub who suffered an as yet undetermined ankle injury.

One has to wonder if the defensive woes came about due to their frustration with both the unacceptable performance by Schaub, as well as the refusal by Head Coach Gary Kubiak to bench his starter in place of Yates. Though Yates didn’t look very well himself, especially on the pick 6, MOST of the blame goes directly on Kubiak’s shoulders for sticking with Schaub two weeks longer than he should have, along with his play calling being the most predictable in the NFL. When every defense knows your tendencies and you never change them, it isn’t rocket science and secondary players are literally “laying in wait” for their chance to make a theft.

Bob McNair is one of the nicest and most patient owners in the NFL, but the time has come for him to have a mano-a-mano talk with his head coach and give him instructions to bench Schaub, even if he is physically able to play this Sunday, and to request that he turn the play calling over to his offensive coordinator Rick Dennison.

At this point, in a very disappointing start to what many pundits predicted just might be a Super Bowl appearance for Houston, those moves would at least let Texans fans see the club was trying to do whatever necessary to right the ship.

If that is not done, and the team continues to go downhill, McNair will almost be forced to fire Kubiak at the end of the season if he wants to keep the fans on his side and buying season tickets. Otherwise, there will be a mass exodus of season ticket holders.

Things only get more trying for Houston this Sunday as they invade Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City to take on Andy Reid’s surprising 6-0 Chiefs, one of only two remaining undefeated teams in the NFL. Peyton Manning and the Broncos are the only other unbeaten left after six weeks.

IF they can somehow pull off the unlikely upset, there still might be time to salvage the season, but the odds are against the Texans. In the history of the League, only 9% of teams that started out 2-4 made the playoffs.